Frozen IQF Fruit
IQF stands for individually quick frozen. Notable for keeping each piece of food frozen separately, IQF makes working with frozen produce easier and makes accurate portioning a cinch. These characteristics make IQF produce a favorite for chefs and those within the hospitality industry when speed, precision, and efficiency, with food, is of the utmost priority. From chestnuts and cassis to cherries and rhubarb, we have an amazing assortment of options from which to choose. Explore them for yourself today and start enjoying the ease and convenience of IQF foods!
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What is IQF?
Also called flash freezing, IQF fruit is made by exposing produce to extremely cold temperatures to help them freeze instantly. A conveyor belt guides them through a blast freezer. As they are placed on the conveyor individually, they freeze individually, helping prevent them from becoming a frozen block. Because of the extreme nature of this process, IQF foods boast extremely small ice crystals that are too tiny to rupture the cell walls. Their microscopic size maintains the food’s integrity and helps prevent it from breaking down during the freezing process. The reason food degrades when frozen is due in large part to the time it takes to freeze them. That slow freezing is what creates large crystals that shatter cell walls; it also results in more crystals furthering the deterioration.
What Foods Are Commonly IQF?
The most common types of IQF foods are small individual ones like blueberries, corn, and peas, seafood like shrimp and mussels also favor this method for the same reasons. But it’s not relegated to small items; flash freezing is a better method for any food, so you’ll find anything from individual chicken breasts to whole turkeys frozen in the same way. At Gourmet Wholesaler, we have an excellent selection of these IQF products and are proud to be partnering with some of the best purveyors in the world to bring them to you!